Indeed. This global economy we live in doesn't act lice your local grocery store

It's not just that. This was quarter a century ago in a country that no longer exists so things may be different where you live now but...

...once upon a time, an invoice was a tax document. In a sense that as far as the taxman was concerned, the date on your invoice was the date when the income or expenditure (depending on whether you are the seller or buyer) was counted from. Of course, this is not necessarily convenient, especially if you have customers who delay the payment: you start paying tax on the money you have not received yet. So companies started sending you invoices after you paid for the goods.

For customers with accounting department demanding invoices to authorize payment, an entity called "pro-forma invoice" was invented. This document was not an official tax document and could be discarded once the real invoice arrived.

Of course, in these enligtened times, we do not resort to such practices

__________________In particle accelerators atoms are indeed not only touching each others. But banging together in a massive explosive orgasm.
-- nieldk in a TMO post

It's not just that. This was quarter a century ago in a country that no longer exists so things may be different where you live now but...

...once upon a time, an invoice was a tax document. In a sense that as far as the taxman was concerned, the date on your invoice was the date when the income or expenditure (depending on whether you are the seller or buyer) was counted from. Of course, this is not necessarily convenient, especially if you have customers who delay the payment: you start paying tax on the money you have not received yet. So companies started sending you invoices after you paid for the goods.

Now lo and behold, this is the way things are in Finland. You are required to pay your VAT dues before the darn customers ever pay you a penny, and guess what happens when you have done so and the customer files for bankcrupcy in the intermediate period...
Yes, you guessed it, the taxman gets to keep the money. Not indefinitely though, you'll get it back eventually, in about 2 years if uou are still in business by then!

But this comes as no surprise to anyone since we are the easternmost country in europe excluding Russia...

Originally Posted by pichlo

For customers with accounting department demanding invoices to authorize payment, an entity called "pro-forma invoice" was invented. This document was not an official tax document and could be discarded once the real invoice arrived.

Of course, in these enligtened times, we do not resort to such practices

heh, just today I wrote up an invoice to a customer I needed to date back to beginning of july by customers request